By Nicole Zador
Avraham Infeld’s voice was too big to fit into the small room, the tone of which rose and fell in an unpredictable cadence as he paced back and forth in front of us, his hands shoved deeply into his pockets. I was sitting in the front row, a frequent recipient of Infeld’s intense eye-contact.
I went into the room expecting a straightforward discussion on the meaning of Jewish leadership, a basic listing of the skills needed to help transform the American Jewish community, to inspire our generation. But Infeld’s lecture touched on far more than the position of leader. It flowed readily into all aspects of my Jewish identity; he started to describe the indescribable emotion of at-homeness that I feel when I am among my fellow Jews.
The Biblical Committee
Infeld loves the Jewish people, no matter the differences in belief or practices. That quality was apparent throughout the two hours he spoke to us. It was this passion that he used to describe a leader of the Jewish people. Or, passion is only one aspect of that role. Infeld made that abundantly clear. His voice soared as he told us that there was no single person who could lead the Jewish people. He repeated it again, in a voice just as pounding, to cement the idea into our hearts. No individual could serve as THE leader.
Instead, he broke it down into four main roles, as seen in the TaNaKh:
It calmed me because suddenly not everything was on my shoulders. No one was expecting me to be a visionary, orator, song leader, and administrator. When I think of a good Jewish leader, I think of someone who can do it all. But, upon reflection, I realized that when I thought of this Jewish professional, it wasn’t an actual person, just an amalgamation of positive attributes, when put together, sets an unattainable standard.
But Infeld made it clear that this idea of a committee, a group leading as opposed to an individual, doesn’t serve as an excuse to not participate. We all have a mission. And, in Infeld’s words, that mission is that same for everyone: How to ensure the continued significant renaissance of the Jewish people (.) (!) (?)
The question I will have to ask myself as I grow is what my role is in trying to fulfill that mission. To educate children? To run community events? Outreach? But this was only the introduction to Infeld’s insight into the Jewish community.
Judaism is not a Religion
With the all too well-known phrase “I have to tell you a story,” Infeld shared his experience as the first community Shaliah; a position he held in Baltimore. The main takeaway was his disagreement with what Infeld perceives as the American idea of Judaism: that it is a religion.
His father was an atheist, but still, on every Sabbath, he would study Talmud. The image of a bareheaded man, frame bent over a page of Talmud, face deep-set in concentration, somehow typifies the idea of an irreligious Jew who can still be deeply connected to Jewish practice because it is “what Jews do.”
But Infeld had more reasons than his “father said so” for his belief that Judaism is not a religion.
Infeld also disagreed with what he saw as Israelis belief that being Israeli meant no longer retaining a singularly Jewish self; Judaism turned into a national identity,
Instead, Infeld stands by his assertion that Judaism is a peoplehood. He went into a brief history starting with the French Revolution and the Enlightenment of Europe. These movements changed the relationship between Jews and the outside world, prompting different responses to modernity. Due to these different responses, the Jewish community started to change how we relate to Judaism, through religion or nationhood, or, in the case of assimilation, not at all.
Personally, this discussion was not only interesting factually, but it also made me think about denominational lines and their usefulness. The strangeness of dividing up a single, small nation into smaller sections, completely convinced that one interpretation of a vision is somehow truer than someone else’s. The next question was how to possible unify a newly (at least in historical terms) fragmented people.
Gd Doesn’t Understand English
Infeld’s theory, dubbed the “Five Legged Table” relies on the idea that as long every Jew relates to their Judaism in three of five ways, there will be overlap among the community, a bond shared no matter nationality or denomination.
The one I found most compelling was the idea of family. My mother isn’t Jewish, a fact that I didn’t find out until I was eight. My mom had been the one to teach me brachot, the aleph bet, and how to braid challah. Even after I knew, it wasn’t something I gave much thought to, but the more I came to know and understand about halakhah, the less comfortable I became with it. I was a Jewish person, but I felt like I could never fully be a part of the Jewish community.
When I got to college, I started looking into the conversion process. Just before coming to Israel, I went to the mikvah and became, halachically, Jewish. It’s still new and I always consider whether my conversion was enough for other people, whether I am now, at last, Jewish enough.
In his section on family, Infeld brought up the concept of conversion and that someone who converted into Judaism isn’t a convert, they are just Jewish. It’s not so much a conversion ceremony, but an adoption. Judaism isn’t a place to stop at, a community that isolates those from different backgrounds. It is a place to live, a place to stay, a home, not in space, but in a community.
Four and five are inextricably related. Infeld, sharing another story, spoke about how growing up in South Africa, his friends would start praying for rain in the summer, when no one would actually want rain. His father explained that the rain wouldn’t actually fall in South Africa, but in Israel. Beyond politics, Jews, in my opinion, are undeniably tied to the land of Israel. It is a central piece in our liturgy, Jerusalem a city ingrained in our imagination.
Hebrew is a part of that connection. Infeld went over the strange experience of seeing children learning to read Hebrew without knowing what they were saying, a situation I am all too familiar with, a child explaining the phenomenon by saying “Gd doesn’t speak English.”
While that is perhaps not the most theologically sound reasoning, Hebrew is still a pivotal aspect of Judaism. It is the language of our culture, of our ancestors, of our prayers. Whether or not one believes in Gd, Hebrew is a language of sacredness.
Through these things, Jews can become unified, bound together by memories and prayers of the past that will help shape our future.
